BIOFUELS SUSTAINABILITY CRITERIA

The report evaluates the proposed EU Directive's 10% biofuels target for 2020, arguing that sustainability depends on precise GHG accounting and the use of productive feedstocks. It highlights that tropical regions, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, have a significant comparative advantage in biofuel productivity over temperate regions. The authors caution against rigid land-use definitions that could disadvantage Least Developed Countries and emphasize the need to account for indirect land use change (iLUC) to avoid 'carbon debt'. The document recommends harmonizing EU methodology with IPCC guidelines and exploring the use of degraded lands for bioenergy to minimize food-security conflicts.

• Biofuel productivity in tropical and sub-tropical regions is significantly higher than in temperate climates, with energy yields per unit of land being on average 5 times higher than those in Europe.
• Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa possess the highest global bioenergy potential, accounting for 39% to 48% of the world total, making them the most likely major exporters of biomass and bioenergy.
• The proposed EU Directive's restrictions on 'degraded grasslands' may create global inequity by benefiting developed nations like Brazil, which have substantial already-degraded land, while hindering socio-economic development in African countries with less degraded grassland.
• Indirect land use change (iLUC) can lead to GHG emissions that far exceed those of direct land use change; for example, some estimates suggest corn ethanol emissions could double relative to gasoline due to iLUC.
• The report recommends that the EU harmonize its GHG emission calculations for carbon stock changes with IPCC Guidelines to improve transparency and consistency with National GHG Inventories.
• Using degraded lands for bioenergy offers a way to combine energy production with GHG decreases through land quality improvement, though the potential supply (8-110 EJ per year) is smaller than that from surplus agricultural land.
• A GHG reduction threshold of 50% or more for biofuels would likely eliminate many first-generation biofuels produced in temperate climates from the EU market.
• The report critiques the proposed Directive's 'double counting' of biofuels produced from wastes or residues (Article 18:4), arguing that if market conditions favor fertile soils for maximum yield, this incentive could actually slow de facto emission reductions.

APA

Johnson, F. X., & Roman, M. (2008). BIOFUELS SUSTAINABILITY CRITERIA. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/biofuels_sustainability_criteria.pdf

Chicago

Johnson, Francis X., and Mikael Roman. BIOFUELS SUSTAINABILITY CRITERIA. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2008. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/biofuels_sustainability_criteria.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Johnson |first1=Francis X. |last2=Roman |first2=Mikael |title=BIOFUELS SUSTAINABILITY CRITERIA |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=June 2008 |url=https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/biofuels_sustainability_criteria.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{johnson2008biofuels, author = {Johnson, Francis X. and Roman, Mikael}, title = {{BIOFUELS SUSTAINABILITY CRITERIA}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2008}, month = jun, url = {https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/biofuels_sustainability_criteria.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }